Annie
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 19, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
33
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
19
Negative:
14
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzDec 19, 2014
Annie is light on its feet, frothy, and always insistently, at times provocatively kind, determined to melt grumpy hearts like marshmallows. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonDec 18, 2014
Annie is not a great movie musical — but it’s a fun time at the movies. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallDec 18, 2014
In a holiday season when family movie entertainment is in short supply, Annie is bubbly enough to suit the purpose while irritating purists wonder where their orphan went. At times it's actually a lot of fun, and leapin' lizards the sun really does come out tomorrow. Right after the helicopter chase. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 19, 2014
It seems sadly apt that the Daddy Warbucks figure played by Jamie Foxx in the new Annie is a cellphone mogul. Because Foxx is pretty much phoning in his performance. Read full review
63
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreDec 16, 2014
Even with all this sparkle, the film staggers through its third act. By then, the script has rubbed the rough edges off the villains and made whatever point it was going to make several times over. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicKerry LengelDec 18, 2014
Annie has never been the most sophisticated of children's stories. The latest version is formulaic and predictable, but it has its charms, not the least of which is Wallis' easy smile and sassy screen presence. Read full review
60
The DissolveGenevieve KoskiDec 17, 2014
When Annie isn’t functioning as a showcase for Wallis’ tiny preternatural charm, it’s tonally varied to the point of discombobulation. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 19, 2014
Considering this musical has its roots in Depression-era American, Gluck’s contemporary take on the material is eerily lacking in observations about the rich/poor divide in this country. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 18, 2014
Quvenzhané Wallis is adorably plucky as the lead in Annie. She and Jamie Foxx as the newfangled Daddy Warbucks character have an appealing chemistry and their songs together are the best moments in the movie. But the rest of Annie is banal, shallow and markedly cynical. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 18, 2014
The movie feels like a vanity production, although it's difficult to determine whose ego is being stroked by this expensive adaptation. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 18, 2014
The unforced cleverness of the opening scenes gives way to lazy plotting, awkwardly staged musical numbers, and car chases. By the end, the movie resembles just another formulaic, family-friendly piece of product, one the kids will enjoy and you’ll endure as it goes in the DVD player for the 40th time. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesMary HoulihanDec 18, 2014
Musical theater versions often seem dated, so moving the story into the 21st century does make sense (as does the multicultural casting), but in the process Gluck and his all-star cast create a chaotic film that tries too hard and fails to capture the charm and heart of the musical. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephanie MerryDec 18, 2014
There are some very funny moments in the movie, even for grown-ups, including a video of Will that goes viral. The absurd machinations of Will’s smarmy political adviser are also good for a laugh. But ultimately, Annie is so fixated on being current that it will never be more than a passing fancy. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldChristine DolenDec 18, 2014
The problem is that hardly anyone in the cast can sing or dance on a level that’s more than passable (Foxx is a fine exception). And that’s a problem when the movie is a musical. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeDec 17, 2014
Broadway purists determined to hate Annie need not fear, because there’s plenty worth complaining about. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley JonesDec 17, 2014
Little girls will love it. I used to be a little girl once, too. I didn’t care much for the Top 40 glossy coat slathered over every song, but this heart will never harden to a spunky kid who’s certain the sun’ll come out tomorrow. Read full review
50
TheWrapInkoo KangDec 14, 2014
No amount of self-referential jokes can make up for a lack of heart and spirit. Thankfully, Annie lacks neither. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianMarc MohanDec 19, 2014
Even the show-stopper "Tomorrow" comes off as half-hearted and obligatory. The choreography looks like it was improvised by the young actors who play Wallis' fellow foster kids — all listless jumping and arm-folding, no inventiveness or energy. Read full review
40
EmpireOlly RichardsDec 22, 2014
A mushy mix of sentiment and some off-key singing lets the air out of this beloved musical's limo tires. Read full review
40
CineVueAllie GemmillDec 18, 2014
As far as holiday films go this is perfect for lightening the holiday hangover but ultimately it's equal parts onerous and energetic, overreaching in its attempt not buckle under the weight of previous iterations. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDec 17, 2014
For all the talent involved, the overall effect is surprisingly flat. Foxx appears disconnected, Byrne is wasted and a painfully hammy Diaz seems to be in another movie altogether. Read full review
40
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonDec 16, 2014
It presumes that children care a great deal about cellphone towers, political campaigns, and Twitter. Still, Quvenzhané Wallis, as Annie, is raw, charismatic, alive, and unpredictable. Read full review
40
Time OutDavid EhrlichDec 16, 2014
Perhaps the most hypercurrent thing about Gluck’s film is how it espouses the value of family while actually celebrating products as the only true form of modern connection. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 15, 2014
Unfortunately, the longer this Annie goes on, the more steam it loses. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 18, 2014
The overall vibe of this folly is curdled and utterly blase; it's a 118-minute foregone conclusion, finesse-free and perilously low on the simple performance pleasures we look for in any musical, of any period. Read full review
33
HitfixDrew McWeenyDec 21, 2014
Wallis, who is an appealing young performer, simply doesn't have the chops for what has traditionally been one of the more demanding leads in a musical for a young performer, and Gluck, along with co-writer Aline Brosh McKenna, has built a film around Wallis that is constantly undercutting the songs, the choreography, and the entire idea of musicals. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 19, 2014
The new Annie musical starring Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis is pretty bad, but let’s be honest: Despite some decent show tunes, the show was pretty bad to begin with, so it’s not worth getting all righteous about the dumb changes. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyDec 18, 2014
Director Will Gluck's glam, grim re-imagining of the Depression-era musical about the hard-hearted rich man and the little girl who melts him, is truly depressing. Read full review
30
The New York TimesA.O. ScottDec 18, 2014
The cast would have been better served by a middle school production overseen by a creatively frustrated, inappropriately ambitious drama teacher than by this hacky, borderline-incompetent production, which was directed by Will Gluck from a screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna. Read full review
30
VarietyRonnie ScheibDec 14, 2014
The film replaces choreography with metronomic editing, while one-note overstatement drowns out character development. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Courtney SheaDec 19, 2014
Of the movie’s dozen musical numbers, only three are relatively unmangled versions of their predecessors. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMichael OrdonaDec 18, 2014
Fans of previous incarnations are advised to check their nostalgia at the door, while the uninitiated may simply check their brains. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyJason ClarkDec 16, 2014
Aside from an unintentional homage to "Zoolander" that is so tone-deaf it'll make you guffaw, Annie goes out of its way to make viewing it a hard-knock life...for us. Read full review
20
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyDec 14, 2014
Putting aside the grating performances, the clumsy direction, the visual ugliness and the haphazard development of story, character and relationships, the movie is hobbled by its intrinsic unsuitability for contemporary retelling. Read full review
12
New York PostLou LumenickDec 18, 2014
The worst Hollywood musical so far this century, it’s another misstep for Sony Pictures, which also sponsored the abortive ‘‘The Interview.’’ Read full review
12
Slant MagazineEric HendersonDec 14, 2014
2014: Annie's America makes director John Huston's elephantine, synthetically charismatic 1982 adaptation look like a Minnelliesque model of focus and concision. Read full review
10
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 18, 2014
Where to begin in describing the awfulness of Annie? Why not with Sandy, Annie’s dog, whose name now connects with the superstorm in this hapless contemporary update of a musical that begged to be left in its 1930s period. Have you ever seen a dog suffer from incompetent direction? This one does, but no more or less so than the human members of the cast, none of whom have any emotional connection with one another, let alone with a standoffish pooch. Read full review
0
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 17, 2014
When a stage musical as beloved as Annie hits the big screen and falls ignominiously on its fat one, you might ask: WTF? For starters, updating the Depression-era tale to NYC 2014 is a really dumb idea. The strain of the shoehorning is evident in every scene. Read full review
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